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Native Californian, biologist, wildlife conservation consultant, retired Smithsonian scientist, father of two daughters, grandfather of four. INTJ. Believes nature is infinitely more interesting than shopping malls. Born 100 years too late.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Chimineas Stinkarella found at last


Finding Stinkarella the spotted skunk was one of the surprises from the last Chimineas trip.

It took 15 months to find the pert skunk on a rocky promontory east of San Juan Creek in a thicket of chamise and manzanita.

I know where to find these little charmers up here in the foothills, but we had to scour the literature to get a better idea of their habitat associations in more arid regions.

The secret is to look for them in dense cover.

They are not habitat generalists like striped skunks, and tend to stick to thickets.


The little guy showed up for single photo ops 3 times the first week, and once on the 5th and 6th weeks.

It was one of two carnivores photographed at this set.

A striped skunk also showed.

These are classy little predators and I never get tired of them.




Reference

Neiswenter, S. A.  and R. C. Dowler. 2007. Habitat Use of Western Spotted Skunks and Striped Skunks in Texas. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 71(2):583-586.

4 comments:

Henry said...

Congratulations, 15 Months is a long time.
It’s good to see hard work and dedication pay off with great pictures like this!
Keep them coming :)

JK said...

Congrats Chris ... now we just have to wait in anticipation for the upcoming ringtail photo.

Terry said...

Great photos for your persistence and know how.
Keep em coming!

Retrieverman said...

Supposedly, there are Eastern spotted skunks in West Virginia, but I have never seen one.

From what I understand, they have in the state in a very long time.